Page 60 of Merry Christmas, Cowboy

“Exactly.” She handed him the lemon muffin this time and watched him take several nonstop bites. His throat moved as he swallowed and she gulped air at how appealing he was.

“I’d say you can’t go wrong with either,” Garrett offered.

She blinked and took a second to clear her head. Heavens, he was talking about the muffins and her mind had gone to an entirely different place.

“Oh, um, so you like them both equally?”

He nodded. “But then, I’m not your best critic, Nic. I like everything you bake.”

The compliment warmed her heart and thoughts swam in her head about her life, and Christmas, and what would happen after the holiday. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

The highway took them past residential areas and then out to long stretches of land that were still snow laden. Granted, the snow was only an inch deep and too thin to create real snowmen, but that freak snowstorm must’ve blown the tumbleweeds to parts unknown.

About ninety minutes later, the scenery changed from a fine dusting of snow covering the ground to land untouched by the storm. Garrett turned off the main road and headed down a path leading to barren terrain and big, wide open spaces.

Nicole spotted something and pointed up ahead, where a steep hill walled up the land. “Look, over there.”

Garrett turned to where she was pointing. “Looks like we hit the jackpot.”

“You think? It’s hard to tell, but it could be,” she said, ridiculously excited at the thought of finding success. How could a tumbleweed discovery make her so darn happy?

Garrett drove on further and parked alongside the road. “Let’s go check it out.”

The air was warmer now, by at least twenty degrees and sunlight poured over them as they climbed out of the truck. Garrett grabbed her hand and they dashed to the hillside barricading dozens of tumbleweeds.

Nicole grabbed Garrett’s hands. “We found them!”

“We sure did.” Garrett grinned and brought her into the circle of his arms, hugging her tight as if they’d discovered the secrets of the universe or something. His laughter filled her up inside, her glee matching his and, after several moments he brushed a quick kiss to her lips and took her hand.

“Let’s go load them up.” He tugged her along, his grip on her tight and sure. It didn’t matter that the kiss was innocent and chaste, her mouth tingled from his touch and the possessive way he held her hand felt as natural as the air she was breathing.

Once they reached the nest of them, they used discretion, picking out the cream of the tumbleweed crop. Garrett thought enough to bring her a pair of heavy-duty work gloves and she put them on. “Here’s some that look big enough for the base,” she said.

“Yep, let me get those,” he said, coming over. He found several more that size while she picked up the smaller and mid-range-sized tumbleweeds. They worked as a team and after thirty minutes and countless trips back and forth to the truck, they had what they needed. The bed of the truck was brimming with beautiful, thorny, would-be snowmen.

Garrett took a few minutes to tie them down using strong thin rope for the drive home then he took his gloves off and nudged them into the back pocket of his jeans.

Nicole looked at their bounty, which to the naked eye wouldn’t appear to be much and gave a big glorious sigh. “We did it.”

“We did.”

She met Garrett’s eyes from over the truck bed. “Actually, I don’t think I could’ve done this on my own. You were a big help.”

He strode over to her, his eyes blazing so perfectly blue. “We make a pretty good team.”

Nicole mentally backed up a step. She couldn’t allow any more feelings to emerge for Garrett. It was hard enough reminding herself every day that he wasn’t going to be here much longer. “Yeah, well, if you ever need a hand after you move you know where to find me.”

It was meant to be a joke, but Garrett’s lips immediately pulled down and he searched her eyes intently, as if she’d just ruined the party. As if he’d forgotten his plan in life. Well, someone had to do a reality check.

“Yeah, I do.”

Without another word, he moved to his side of the truck, and she moved to hers. They both climbed in, the euphoria from earlier wiped completely clean. Garrett waited for her to buckle up and then pulled away, making a U-turn to head back toward Last Stand.

Nicole stared out the window as the scenery rolled by. The weather got increasingly colder and she snuggled deeper into her jacket. Garrett noticed her discomfort and turned on the heater. He was almost the perfect man, and she stilled her heart from growing any closer to him. Because, maybe she had ruined the party, but better that than the alternative, destroying her heart. She sighed and closed her eyes.

At times like these, reality really sucked.

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